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I recently moved to NorCal from Seattle. My work has me throughout the Northern part of that state and I just need to say.. I'm very pleasantly surprised with Sacramento. It's charming, sunny, friendly, great farmers markets and fruit stands with affordable produce. A good amount to do, nearby coveted national/ state parks, lower cost of living, decent transit & light rail, interesting neighborhoods. And it's about the same size as Denver/ Portland. This city has really been slept on, I've been having very positive experiences there.
I think Sacramento should be featured more in conversations. It's overshadowed by the Bay, but honest;y it seems like it's to the city's benefit.
What other cities are slept on?
Tacoma is also one that has started gaining at least regional traction. These two cities offer much more than you might expect.
Typical mixed housing in midtown. Most of the single family manors actually appear to be du-tri-quadplexes. Lot's of 2-3-4 story apartment building as well. Sprinkled with bodegas and human scale commercial strips.
Sacramento is a flat, inland California city with by California standards fairly chilly winters. Given that CA draws a lot of its appeal from the ocean, the mountains and all-year nice mild weather...it's obvious why it's kinda under the radar.
I think without the state government and the other business that attracts it'd probably just be another Modesto. As it is, I think there's more poverty and blight in the Sacramento area (especially the north side of the city) than may be generally assumed.
Tacoma is starting to get its due. In some ways it's like a lower-density Seattle at 2/3 the price. And Mt. Rainier really does look massive as it's only 30 miles away. UW Tacoma has been a huge catalyst, representing a big chunk of the first photo along with some museums and the federal courthouse in the old Union Station husk. It's been in a big apartment boom that's starting to give it some walkable heft.
A lot of the Hispanic ones get very little attention for how nice they are. El Paso, San Antonio, Tucson are all wonderful cities. Albuquerque proper has some crime issues, but even there the housing prices when you consider how beautiful Northern New Mexico is (Chimayo, Taos, Santa Fe, Red River) is surprising (+ the International Balloon Fiesta is incredible).
Tacoma is starting to get its due. In some ways it's like a lower-density Seattle at 2/3 the price. And Mt. Rainier really does look massive as it's only 30 miles away. UW Tacoma has been a huge catalyst, representing a big chunk of the first photo along with some museums and the federal courthouse in the old Union Station husk. It's been in a big apartment boom that's starting to give it some walkable heft.
I'm curious from where in Tacoma one would see Mt.Rainier. I'm on Google Street View and I'm trying to find any views of it, but most of the street views show no mountains at all or other much lower hills. 30 miles is a long distance to be able to see a mountain from ground level for what it's worth.
I have seen Tacoma skyline shots with a massive Mt Rainier in the background, but I've also seen such shots of Los Angeles with the San Gabriel Mts in the background when I know for a fact that in most of L.A. you would not see those mountains. It's basically photographers choosing special viewpoints and then using special lenses to capture those shots.
The city is built on hills, so you just have to be on top of one or looking down the right valley. The Puyallup River valley with northbound (actually eastbound) I-5 is a good example.
From Seattle the mountain is 50 miles and it looks pretty big. From Tacoma it's 30 miles. Try a basic web search for examples (often telephoto, granted). Google streetview is wide angle.
Milwaukee, Poughkeepsie/Hudson Valley, Central Pennsylvania, Columbia SC, the Alabama metros
Milwaukee gets overshadowed by Chicago and its neighbor Madison. Wisconsin treats Madison as the new shiny toy, and neglects its classic a bit. But Milwaukee's actually pretty fun to visit. Of the MLB games I've gone to, I think I enjoyed going to a Brewer's game the most (Though comparisons are mostly Chicago and Atlanta). It had a bit more of that minor league coziness that often gets lost in the majors.
The Hudson Valley's just pretty. As my friend would say, the Hudson River School of art wasn't a romanticized view of nature, it was just realism. However, I don't think most people outside of the northeast would even know this place existed.
Central Pennsylvania is a bit decentralized, so it's a bit underestimated how populated it really is. I've had roommates from Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Lewisburg, along with a good friend from Altoona. So I've a lot about random things from Bucknell to Hershey Park. MSAs and CSAs don't describe this area well, so it gets skipped over a bit.
Columbia isn't the most amazing place in the world or anything, but Charleston and Greenville tend to get the attention in its state. With most states, there'd easily be room for people to add a third, but there's also another Carolina, and Charlotte tends to group the two states together. And NC has a wide list of notable cities to add to the list, so Columbia tends to drop out.
Alabama's rural and poverty reputation tends to hide its urban areas. How the state does municipalities doesn't help either. The Birmingham metro has about 2/3 the number of municipalities as the Los Angeles metro with 1/12 the population. If anyone's tracking municipalities per capita in for metro areas, I think Birmingham might win, and Alabama metros as a whole might be pretty high up. That said, Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile all have some sweet things going on, albeit a bit in a "diamond-in-the-rough" sort of way for most of them. Montgomery isn't quite there, but I will say its been working on upping the amount of stuff to do in a good way. The Shoals punch above their weight, too. Dothan might be a surprising thing worth keeping an eye on as Florida gets more expensive (It's nowhere near on the beach, but the drive is rather short, and generally avoids insurance issues).
I also want to add Des Moines, but that's purely on feel. I don't know how to describe things for that city.
I'm curious from where in Tacoma one would see Mt.Rainier. I'm on Google Street View and I'm trying to find any views of it, but most of the street views show no mountains at all or other much lower hills. 30 miles is a long distance to be able to see a mountain from ground level for what it's worth.
I have seen Tacoma skyline shots with a massive Mt Rainier in the background, but I've also seen such shots of Los Angeles with the San Gabriel Mts in the background when I know for a fact that in most of L.A. you would not see those mountains. It's basically photographers choosing special viewpoints and then using special lenses to capture those shots.
I was also struggling to find it on street view. But on a clear/ semi clear day it is very noticeable. I think the camera used may have more of a focus on immediate surroundings. Mt. Rainier is truly a gargantuan cosmic entity.
I found some pics that I think accurately represent the scale of it.
Unfortunately a lot of those photos are the kind of staged shots I was talking about. I just find in real life you rarely actually see things very far in the distance. Like it's surprising to me every time how close you need to get to a city's skyline to actually see it from street level.
I recently moved to NorCal from Seattle. My work has me throughout the Northern part of that state and I just need to say.. I'm very pleasantly surprised with Sacramento. It's charming, sunny, friendly, great farmers markets and fruit stands with affordable produce. A good amount to do, nearby coveted national/ state parks, lower cost of living, decent transit & light rail, interesting neighborhoods. And it's about the same size as Denver/ Portland. This city has really been slept on, I've been having very positive experiences there.
I think Sacramento should be featured more in conversations. It's overshadowed by the Bay, but honest;y it seems like it's to the city's benefit.
What other cities are slept on?
Tacoma is also one that has started gaining at least regional traction. These two cities offer much more than you might expect.
Typical mixed housing in midtown. Most of the single family manors actually appear to be du-tri-quadplexes. Lot's of 2-3-4 story apartment building as well. Sprinkled with bodegas and human scale commercial strips.
Blaserbrad, I agree with you! Sacramento is a great town!
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